1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to secondary protection integrated circuit (IC)s, methods of controlling a secondary protection IC, protection modules, and battery packs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Techniques to control the charge and discharge of rechargeable batteries using a protection circuit in order to prevent the overcharge and overdischarge of rechargeable batteries installed in digital cameras, portable devices, etc., have been known.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2010-187532 illustrates a battery pack including a rechargeable battery monitoring circuit that detects the charge and discharge state of a rechargeable battery and a protection circuit that protects the rechargeable battery by controlling the ON and OFF of transistors, where the operating states of the circuits are detectable.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a battery pack. Referring to FIG. 1, a microcontroller unit (MCU), a reset circuit (RESET) and a regulator (REG) are provided outside a secondary protection IC, and are individually controlled.